After the Pittsburgh Steelers lost their final preseason game 24-17 to the Detroit Lions, the team has yet to decide on whether to make quarterback Russell Wilson or Justin Fields the starter. The team could release its decision soon enough, but former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III shared a possible worst-case scenario for Fields.
During a recent appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, Griffin III made a prediction that might cause fans some concern.
“If you start Justin Fields first, and he goes out and plays bad for five games, his career is over as a starter. I think Mike Tomlin understood this. Maybe front facing to the media he’ll say, ‘It’s an open competition,’ because you have to, as a head coach. He knew all along who he wanted his starting quarterback to be, if indeed it is Russell Wilson, and I don’t think there’s a problem there,” the former quarterback explained.
Who will start for the Steelers?
It’s easy to understand Robert Griffin III’s logic for his Justin Fields prediction, especially if you think about it from the coach’s perspective. Wilson may already be the unnamed starter, but Mike Tomlin has not announced his pick as of Monday. However, reports suggest that he may do so by the end of next week.
In their preseason finale, Fields spoke about building chemistry with the offense.
“They did all right, but there’s also room to grow. So just going to look at the mistakes that we had and what plays we could have done better on and get better,” Fields said.
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Meanwhile, Griffin III also suggested that Tomlin keeping up the competition between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields throughout the Steelers’ preseason should keep the latter from losing confidence heading into next season.
For one thing, Wilson is a Super Bowl champion, and he simply has more professional experience. Tomlin might want to lean on the veteran in the early parts of the season rather than throw the younger quarterback into the fire immediately.
Replacing Fields with Wilson during the season, especially if the younger QB struggles, would deal damage to his confidence and may hamper his development. However, replacing Wilson with Fields would allow the younger player to spark a sputtering Steelers offense thanks to his athletic ability.
Still, managing the egos of a locker room is part of a coach’s responsibilities. For instance, Sean Payton may have to react to Jarrett Stidham’s disappointment at losing QB1 duties to Bo Nix. Perhaps Tomlin might be thinking about keeping his team’s chemistry intact.
